He was plainly annoyed when it was suggested to him post-game that his team overlooked Friday night’s opponents, the Sacramento Kings, in their rush to get to the more glamorous Thunder on Sunday.

“No, no, no,” Casey said with unusual force. “We have no right to look forward to anybody. We have to play like a desperate team every night. To think about anybody but Sacramento today is criminal.”

They were thinking about them plenty by the second half. The Kings staked themselves a big lead at that point and did not slow, winning 105-96. They were the first opponent in nearly a month to put up more than 100 points on the Raptors.

Eight wins in nine games have papered over many things this team lacks. The unwelcome arrival of DeMarcus Cousins and his loveseat-sized shoulders badly exposed one of them — truly big bigs.

“He manhandled us,” Casey said afterward, which was an understatement. Cousins had more rebounds (20) than any Raptor aside from Kyle Lowry had points. He also notched a game-high 31 for himself.

With Jonas Valanciunas sitting out in civvies, Cousins was variously defended on the evening by Aaron Gray, Amir Johnson, Ed Davis and — this really was unfair — Quincy Acy. All of them were overmatched by Cousins’ combination of size and aggression.

“He was getting everything he wanted,” Davis conceded.

The only Raptor who gave Cousins a run was relative pipsqueak Alan Anderson — and all of that was with his mouth. Cousins and Anderson took matching technicals early, and looked perilously close to a fist fight once things got out of hand.

Give Anderson this much — however many gears he has, reverse is not one of them.

Was the team intimidated by the mercurial Sacramento centre?

“No,” Ed Davis said challengingly, allowing a very significant beat to pass. “We did a bad job.”

It was a letdown we all knew was coming. Unfortunately, everyone arrived there at precisely the same moment.

“It was that night,” Casey said in summation. No need to explain the italics.

The coach must’ve seen it coming on some level. He was working harder than usual in the pre-game to tamp down expectations.

“I’m not jumping up and down and throwing snowballs,” he said.

His team came out looking as flat as they have in the last month — “… as a pancake,” he would say afterward. Mickael Pietrus might’ve recognized it as a crepe.

Once again, the officials had become enemies No. 6, 7 and 8 — no hack by a Raptor shrugged off. While Casey warred with the refs at midcourt, his team couldn’t manage to take advantage of any of their opportunities at the line. Their first-half ineptitude in that part of the game was only mitigated by continued good work (6-for-14) from three-point range. That wouldn’t last.

The thinness of the bench became apparent early. For one terrible stretch in the second quarter, the seldom-used rookie Acy was the only Toronto big on the floor.

Nonetheless, the Raptors trailed by only one at the half, 54-53.

Cousins was forceful from the start, but he fairly won the game by himself at the outset of the second half.

He chased Gray from the game inside of two minutes. Amir Johnson re-entered and picked up his fourth foul a few seconds later. He would foul out after playing only 10 total minutes.

Backed by three Cousins buckets, the Kings went on a 10-0 run to start the third. Indicative play at that stage? Three Raptors triangulating an easy rebound under their own basket, only to have Davis knock it out of bounds with his butt.

Davis shouldn’t take much blame, though. He was one of the only creditable Toronto players on the evening (11 points, 13 rebounds).

His continued strong play has Casey slowly preparing the ground for Andrea Bargnani’s yet-to-be-determined return from an elbow injury.

“Eddie Davis, it’s going to be a hard case to pull him out of the lineup. He’s earned that spot,” Casey said.

When he said it, he was thinking of a different Raptors team — the upswinging, can’t miss Raptors. That team’s gone now. It’s back to the scrapping, need-a-win Raptors.

Cousins and his teammates charitably reminded them of exactly what they’ve earned thus far this season — nothing.

It’s a lesson all involved might want to study before the Thunder arrive on Sunday.

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